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Biomedical subjects

A Pattie

Publications and source records attributed to A Pattie.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

White matter integrity and cognition in childhood and old age.

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that white matter integrity, as measured by diffusion tensor and magnetization transfer MRI is significantly associated with cognitive ability measured in youth and old age. METHODS: Forty, nondemented, surviving participants of the Scottish Mental Survey of 1932 underwent brain MRI and a battery of psychometric tests covering major cognitive domains and tests of information processing efficiency. IQ scores were available from age 11. Mean diffusivity, fractional anisotropy (FA), and magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) were measured in frontal and parieto-occipital white matter and centrum semiovale. RESULTS: Centrum semiovale FA correlated (r = 0.36 to 0.56; p < 0.02) with contemporaneous (age 83) scores on psychometric tests of nonverbal reasoning, working memory, executive function, and information processing efficiency. Centrum semiovale FA also correlated with IQ at age 11 (r = 0.37; p = 0.02). Controlling for IQ at age 11 and information processing at age 83 attenuated the association between centrum semiovale FA and general cognitive ability by approximately 85%. MTR, largely, did not show significant correlations with cognitive test scores. CONCLUSIONS: These data support the information processing efficiency hypothesis of cognitive aging and suggest one foundation for individual differences in processing efficiency. They also suggest that studies of imaging and cognition in the elderly should take into account prior mental ability rather than assuming that any associations between imaging parameters and cognitive test scores are the result of age-related changes.

Aged, 80 and over↗

Pronunciation of irregular words is preserved in dementia, validating premorbid IQ estimation.

The National Adult Reading Test (NART), used to estimate premorbid mental ability, involves pronunciation of irregular words. The authors demonstrate that, after controlling for age 11 IQ test scores, mean NART scores do not differ in people with and without dementia. The correlation between age 11 IQ and NART scores at about age 80 was similar in the groups with (r = 0.63, p < 0.001) and without (r = 0.60, p < 0.001) dementia. These findings validate the NART as an estimator of premorbid ability in mild to moderate dementia.

Aged↗

Birth weight and cognitive function at age 11 years: the Scottish Mental Survey 1932.

AIMS: To examine the relation between birth weight and cognitive function at age 11 years, and to examine whether this relation is independent of social class. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study based on birth records from 1921 and cognitive function measured while at school at age 11 in 1932. Subjects were 985 live singletons born in the Edinburgh Royal Maternity and Simpson Memorial Hospital in 1921. Moray House Test scores from the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 were traced on 449 of these children. RESULTS: Mean score on Moray House Test increased from 30.6 at a birth weight of <2500 g to 44.7 at 4001-4500 g, after correcting for gestational age, maternal age, parity, social class, and legitimacy of birth. Multiple regression showed that 15.6% of the variance in Moray House Test score is contributed by a combination of social class (6.6%), birth weight (3.8%), child's exact age (2.4%), maternal parity (2.0%), and illegitimacy (1.5%). Structural equation modelling confirmed the independent contribution from each of these variables in predicting cognitive ability. A model in which birth weight acted as a mediator of social class had poor fit statistics. CONCLUSION: In this 1921 birth cohort, social class and birth weight have independent effects on cognitive function at age 11. Future research will relate these childhood data to health and cognition in old age.

Age Factors↗

Childhood mental ability and dementia.

OBJECTIVE: To examine links between childhood mental ability and dementia using data from a 1932 survey of the mental ability of the 1921 Scottish birth cohort. METHOD: Patients with dementia from the 1921 Scottish birth cohort were located in 1) a national survey of early-onset dementia (1974-1988), 2) local mental health services, and 3) a survey of 264 of 519 surviving Aberdeen residents who took the 1932 test. Control subjects were identified in the 1932 Scottish Mental Survey. RESULTS: Mean 1932 ability score for the Scottish 1921 cohort did not differ from early-onset dementia. Early-onset dementia was not associated with lower childhood mental ability when compared with matched control subjects. In Aberdeen, mental ability scores were significantly lower in children who eventually developed late-onset dementia when compared with other Aberdeen children tested in 1932. This difference was also detected between cases and tested subjects (controls) alive in 1994. CONCLUSIONS: Late-onset dementia is associated with lower mental ability scores in childhood. Early-onset dementia mental ability scores did not differ from locally matched control subjects or from late-onset dementia. Mechanisms that account for the link between lower mental ability and late-onset dementia are probably not relevant to early-onset dementia.

Aged↗

Right on cue.

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Aged↗